Chapter 28

The Joads secure half a boxcar in a streamside camp and settle into a routine of cotton-picking and nightly meat, briefly feeling stable. On a store trip, Ma budgets carefully while the children get small treats. Back in the car, news breaks: Ruthie, after a fight over Cracker Jack, boasted that Tom had killed a man and was hiding.

Fearing a search, Ma brings supper to Tom’s culvert drop, then follows him to his blackberry-thicket hideout. In the darkness, she urges him to flee far away and presses seven dollars on him. Tom, reflecting on Casy’s teachings and the government camp’s self-rule, decides to devote himself to helping the people organize, declaring he’ll be present wherever the oppressed struggle. Ma, torn, lets him go.

Returning, Ma meets a small farmer recruiting pickers and arranges work for both families. In the boxcar, Mr. Wainwright worries that Aggie and Al’s walking out could lead to shame; Ma promises to speak to Al. Al then announces he and Aggie intend to marry and leave for garage work; Ma is glad but asks him to stay until spring.

That night brings a small celebration; Rose of Sharon slips out to the willows, distressed. Before dawn, she insists on picking despite being far along. The families reach a late twenty-acre field already crowded with workers. Under a stiff west wind, they race the dew tare and the approaching weather. By late morning the field is stripped; pay is meager, and hope fades.

As the first rain falls, they drive back. Rose of Sharon shivers, and Ma orders wood-gathering and heat. The families pile fuel, dry out, and huddle inside while the storm drums the tight boxcar roof, ending work and deepening their uncertainty.